Women's Denunciations in the Third Reich

Vandana Joshi. Gender and Power in the Third Reich: Female Denouncers and the Gestapo (1933-45). Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. xx + 229 pp. $65.00, cloth, ISBN 978-1-4039-1170-4. Reviewed by Julia Torrie Published on H-German (September, 2004) In June 1939, Frau Hof, a working-class wom‐ Vandana Joshi's Gender and Power in the an from Düsseldorf, made a visit to the Gestapo. Third Reich: Female Denouncers and the Gestapo She had recently discovered that her husband had (1933-45) brings to light many cases like this one. lived with a prostitute before marrying her and It is a study of denunciations in the Third Reich that he carried a venereal disease. When Frau Hof that, Joshi argues, enabled women to "tilt the refused to sleep with her husband because of his scales of power in their favour, to appropriate illness, he became violent. Moreover, Frau Hof power and influence, to fght for their dignity and told the Gestapo, "He is left oriented, I can not to subvert the patriarchal code of domination and take it any longer.... He says that he would never subordination" (p. 47). Members of the apparently become a National Socialist." The Gestapo looked "weaker" sex used denunciations as a way to at‐ into the case, noting that there was significant dis‐ tack the strong, "playing the game of use and cord between the couple, and that Frau Hof had abuse of power in an uninhibited and fearless already asked for her husband to be banned from way" (p. xii). the house. Herr Hof, though not at frst available Joshi's work speaks to both the historiography for questioning, was later called to witness by the of women in Nazi Germany, and that of denuncia‐ Gestapo. He denied the charges, suggesting that tion. The former historiography was dominated his wife had simply wanted "to get rid of [him]." for some time by the dichotomy of victim/perpe‐ In view of the fact that Herr Hof had "not come trator, but Joshi's work is part of a newer trend into notice politically before," the Gestapo warned that highlights the messiness of such distinctions, him to behave himself, reported his venereal dis‐ and problematizes the blanket category of "wom‐ ease to the health authorities, and concluded that, en" itself. Joshi undertakes a gender-based analy‐ "there are no grounds to pursue the matter fur‐ sis that remains conscious of the great variety of ther" (pp. 52-55). women's experiences and roles. H-Net Reviews The study of denunciation in the Third Reich, Many of those accused were not even brought to for its part, is a comparatively young feld, yet one trial, though this statement must naturally be that has grown significantly in recent years.[1] It tempered in view of the dire outcomes of denun‐ was developed primarily through the work of ciation for those who were considered racially or Robert Gellately, who argued that citizens' denun‐ otherwise inferior (p. 18). ciations to the police were far more widespread Women's roles as denouncers have been doc‐ than hitherto believed, and that in fact, the umented in the past, notably by Helga Schubert in Gestapo relied on this kind of popular participa‐ Judasfrauen, a book that presented ten case stud‐ tion to do its job.[2] Gellately's work made popu‐ ies of female denouncers, drawn from the records lar consent, as evidenced by denunciation, a cru‐ of the Volksgerichtshof and post-war trials.[4] cial element in our understanding of the Nazi sys‐ Joshi adds subtlety to the picture presented by tem. Schubert and the few others who have treated While Gellately showed that popular denunci‐ sensational cases, or tried to establish a statistical ations were often at the root of Gestapo investiga‐ basis for understanding the extent of female de‐ tions and that fear of denunciation encouraged nunciation.[5] Hers is the frst scholarly mono‐ loyalty to the regime, Eric Johnson, in 1999, sug‐ graph to examine female denunciation in a sys‐ gested that this may have been more true of some tematic way, considering not only its extent and cases than others.[3] Johnson underlined the fact outcomes, but also the social context of such de‐ that the Gestapo was particularly interested in nunciations, and the interaction between the certain targeted groups, and in enforcing particu‐ Gestapo, the denouncer, and the denounced. lar policies, especially those regarding race. "Ordi‐ The study is based on a selection of the sur‐ nary" Germans who followed the rules of the viving fles of the Gestapo for the city of Duessel‐ regime had little to fear, even from denouncers, dorf, preserved at the Nordrhein-Westfaelisches because the Gestapo did not pursue cases against Hauptstaatsarchiv.[6] The introduction defines them with the same vigor. Fear of denunciation, the subject and positions Joshi's work in the histo‐ for Johnson, was not a necessary element to en‐ riography. Chapter 1 deals with sources and sure the loyalty of the general population. methodology, noting, for instance, that Joshi has Joshi's work lies somewhere between these included in her examination cases that involved two points of view. She suggests that denunciation denunciations at a later stage of the investigation, remained threatening even to those who were not not just at its outset. This chapter is followed by singled out for special persecution by the regime. three content chapters, each focused on a particu‐ Behaviors that were perceived by the state as dan‐ lar issue and including several case studies. The gerous or disloyal, but which took place inside the first of these (chapter 2) treats women's denuncia‐ home, would likely not have come to the attention tions within the family, and includes the case de‐ of the state without denunciations. Denunciation scribed above. It argues that "family and marriage was also at the root of many cases involving Jews remained the spheres where women readily be‐ who tried to hide their racial identity, and those came accusers," using denunciation to redress the who committed Rassenschande, or "race defile‐ power balance in the household (p. 81). Women ment." But Joshi also reminds us that we need to were more likely to denounce their spouses than be careful about assuming that denunciation au‐ men, and Joshi suggests that the existence of these tomatically led to doom for the denounced indi‐ denunciations undermines Claudia Koonz's asser‐ vidual. Most of the cases that she examined "did tion that mothers and wives "made a vital contri‐ not result in the execution of the denounced." bution to Nazi power by preserving the illusion of 2 H-Net Reviews love in an environment of hatred."[7] Lower-mid‐ 2, for instance, it would be helpful to know how dle- or working-class urban women tended to be many married couples there were in the city of the ones who fled reports with the Gestapo, and Duesseldorf, or even among the people mentioned such reports were most likely to lead to the perse‐ in the Gestapo fles, so that one could get a better cution of the denounced party if he was a mem‐ sense of the real extent of women's denunciation ber of a group considered racially "inferior," like of their husbands.[8] If we are intended to con‐ the Poles. clude from these cases that "the very notion of the In the third chapter, Joshi tackles the denun‐ family as the 'safe haven' was turned upside down ciation of Jewish victims specifically. Whereas by these disgruntled wives as never before," we women denouncers were preponderant in the need to know not only how many women de‐ cases discussed in chapter 2, they tended to be nounced their husbands, but also how many did slightly outnumbered by men in cases involving not (p. 46). It would also be interesting to delve Jews. Joshi suggests that women took it upon more into the multifarious outcomes of these cas‐ themselves to "police" semi-private areas like es: how often, as in the case mentioned at the out‐ apartment buildings or grocery stores, while men set of this review, did a denunciation to the focused on the workplace, and expressed social Gestapo lead to the involvement not just of the po‐ jealousies through their denunciations. lice, but also of the health offices or welfare au‐ thorities? Chapter 4 tackles the sexual interaction of "Aryans" and "racially foreign" individuals. A Although most of the work focuses on the small number of sexually abused female foreign theme of denunciation, chapter 4 brings together workers found the courage to report the men who many different types of cases under the heading tormented them to the authorities. Joshi traces the of "gender oppression." Denunciation itself be‐ "appropriation" of the state's power by these comes rather peripheral to these cases, something women, who, far from being passive victims, ef‐ that should be made clearer to the reader. The fectively pressured the regime into disciplining case studies of "racially foreign women" who re‐ their "Aryan" aggressors. The chapter then turns ported their rapists to the police are fascinating, to the role of denunciation in reports of misbe‐ and show that at least some of these individuals havior by foreign women selected for "Germani‐ were able to make accusations against their ag‐ sation," and to the moral policing of "Aryan" sol‐ gressors stick. These women used the power of diers' wives who had relationships with foreign the regime to their own ends, and thus they were workers. The concluding section of the work gives acting in a somewhat analogous way to the female statistics showing gender breakdowns of the cases denouncers the rest of the work examines.

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